Cob and the Pirates
by Zabinzu
Summary: Cornelius hedge AKA Cob was a simple farmer, that is until Pirates for the first time in one hundred years stumble across his village and kidnap him. Will Cob be able escape the crew, or will he forever be a Swabbie. OC's as main Cast
1. Chapter 1

**I do not Own One Piece**

**Spoken Words: Hello**

**_Inner Thoughts: ouch_**

**_(Other characters Actions): (The lad had grabbed a knife) _**

**Places and POV: The Rust Bucket: POV No Beard James**

**Feel free to criticize, support, give ideas, and yell at any poor grammar in the comments.**

**? POV Cornelius Hedge**

**I'm writing this memoir in the hopes that some day I may pass my stories on to the generations after me, I'm not sure where my travels will take me or if I'll ever see this memoir exchange hands, but I want people to remember Cob and the Stock-Man Pirates.**

**There are few small islands in the south blue that can say they have been prosperous for over one-hundred years and never once had a pirate attack. My home, The Harp String Isles is one of them, known for its peacefulness and (mostly) abandoned marine base. The main reason we stay so calm is due to our strong currents, and the fact that the Marines still make rounds to the islands every once and awhile, which usually keeps most non-native folks away from our humble ports. My name is Cornelius Hedge, or Cob by those who know me well, I'm the son of the islands only farmers who worked the island land and reaped it's harvests. I'm currently writing this at the age of nineteen, I'm a little thin, have short black hair, and my height is a modest five feet and nine inches.**

**When my folks were alive they showed me all of the wonders of nurturing, growing, and the way life cycles from birth to death, to rebirth. They were great people who shared almost all of their harvest with others, and barely ever complained about their position in life, however, one day they both never woke up from their sleep, and I was alone. I'm not exactly sure why, my folks passed on that night, the doctor and morgue both believed it was of their older age, as they were fairly old when they gave birth to me. I moved on fairly fast, I buried my parents under their honeymoon tree, and began to work the lands once again. Luckily the villagers were kind enough to help me out the first few years after my parents passage, soon enough I began to get better harvest's for the village, and tinker around with some the old machinery my family had, I guess that when I first started my hobby of learning mechanics.**

**It was around one month ago that my life changed though, and perhaps for the better, _then again_... Well here's how it most likely went.**

**Near The Harp Islands: POV No Beard James**

**"Hey Dr. Deal we're in luck its an island", (the portly, masked doctor, jumps for joy), "oh thank Poseidon James I thought we would never find land again with your navigation", "Ah come on", I say, "it wasn't that bad, now you know the drill". (the doctor nods and heads down stairs), "oh and don't let Stitch know, we don't need any incidents now" ( the doctor waves his hand) "yeah, yeah". I yell out my favorite words, "It's time to run ashore".**

**Harp Islands Town Hall: POV Mayor**

**"Ms. Hamilton have you heard the news?" "Apparently Crocodile was brought in by the marines, I'm glad we don't have to worry about crazy people like him." (The mayor turns to his left, and notices Ms. Hamilton just starring off into space), Ms. Hamilton whats wrong? (she just points her finger towards the shore). "A pirate ship?! Damn, we need to warn the town!"**

**Harp Islands: POV No Beard James**

**_Humph, just as I thought everyone's locked in their houses, then again most are intimidated by giant bald people achacha._ "No need to worry people I'm only here to buy some food, perhaps at a discounted price for my hard efforts getting here" (the mayor slowly peeks out the window). "Hey you look like a pretty knowledgeable man where can I find some food (the mayor nervous for his village slowly points towards the farm fields), achacha, thanks friend".**

**Harp Islands: POV Mayor**

**"We have to get the navy here and quick, get the snail phone." (Ms. Hamilton, all of sudden starts jumping for joy) "No need Mayor its a marine captain." "What really", I say? _I wonder how he got here so fast, no matter we have to get rid of those pirates!_**

**Harp Islands: POV Dr. Deal**

**_I'm surprised they were this easily convinced, well its a good change._ "Good afternoon, I saw there was a pirate ship while making my rounds near here, do you need some assistance?" ( the mayor immediately begs for me to take care of the pirate) and of course I accept to "capture" him. _I hurry and make my way over to my captain before the townspeople might question why they haven't seen another ship._**

**Harp Island Farm Field: POV Cob**

**_Ow my aching back, I really hate it when my tiller breaks._ (Is that someone in the distance, man he's huge). "Hey there, are you here to look at this years harvest", (the man smiles and replies with a firm and hearty yes). _It was little odd for a merchant to come so soon in the harvest, but never the less I showed him my different assorted crops and the quality in which they were grown, and he seemed to be quite pleased._ (He then said something I didn't expect, I want all of it.) "Really? That''s amazing, let me get everything ready for barter".**

**Harp Island Farm House: No Beard James**

** "Well, this is a great harvest you have here, how much for all?" _I know this lad isn't about to be swindled_, _I can see he's got some brains at-least compared to some others I know of The lad tells me 5,000 Belli_. "Hmm, your crop is fine, but I know many harvests around the world have been doing well, I think your over selling" _While most pirates take what they want I like to make some sport of it, sometimes there's deals that can only be made through creating some trust_. 3,000 lad, and not a cent higher, I'm no fool, I know what these are worth even with their good quality, (the lad smirks, I think I may have found one of those deals).**

**Harp Islands Farm House: POV Cob**

**_I knew this deal was going south as soon as the merchant figured out my plan, I knew I had to pull out my trump_. _I pull open the floor boards and grab a very special item._ "This fruit has been in my family for over two generations and I bet you might be interested in getting it as a bundle with my crops, only 7,000 Belli for all". _Of course I wasn't really planning on giving him the rare preserved fruit I owned, but I felt like I needed the money and the chance to sell my whole crop overwhelmed my senses, but I knew I was in deep when the merchant started to laugh._**

**Harp Island Farm House: No Beard James**

** "Well lad, I think the time is right to tell you that my final offer is I get everything for free, and you and your town get to live in peace." _The lad knows he's in deep, but I know he'll be the one to finally get me a devil fruit_.**

**I_ knew I had to hurry, things always seem to go wrong last minute and I didn't want to risk Stitch getting off the ship, dang my stubby legs I knew I should have did more exercise. I was nearly exhausted by the time I reached the farm door, but I managed to open it._**

**Harp Islands Farm House: POV No Beard James**

**"I'm glad your smart Lad, thanks for the fruit and crops, I changed my mind we do have some belli, I guess I can spare a thousand, it should be enough to keep you alive til the next harvest, achacha,**

**Harp Islands Farm House: POV Cob**

**_I was so mad at myself, I had been fooled, all because of my peaceful life, not only did I lose my harvest, but I lost my folks devil fruit) What? Someones at the door, have they come to help me? (all of a sudden many things happened at once, the fake merchant was knocked over, and the fruit he had was knocked into my mouth, I tried not to swallow, but it was too late_._ Ack that tasted disgusting, it must have been rotted, why were these things so poular._**

**Harp Islands Farm House: POV No Beard James**

**_All of a sudden my life's dream was crushed, my path to a devil fruit gone_, I saw Dr. Deal slumped on the ground and the lad to my front. _First I grabbed my sea-stone cuffs, I was lucky the kid didn't react fast, I caught him in the cuffs before he could move, and then I took Dr. Deal and gave him a can of Justice for crushing my dream._**

**Aboard The Rust Bucket: POV Cob**

**This next part is a little blurry, no one really remembers what happened, I was weak from the shackles, Dr. Deal was having severe trauma, and James was enraged, what I do know is that I remember the screams from the village.**

**Harp Islands Farm House: POV No Beard James**

**"Dr. Deal hurry, up and get off your butt, I'll finish beating you later, grab the harvest and I'll get the kid! We'll sell him back to the town after we get back to the boat. I think stitch got impatient". _It doesn't surprise me that Dr. Deal is already back up, and half way across the field, he can move fast when he needs to_.**

**Harp Islands Village Outskirts: POV Dr. Deal**

**_Dammit, First I make James mad and now Stitch is loose, I may be a pirate but, I won't let these people die, I don't care how many times I shred my muscles I will get their in time, looks like its time to put my repair and renew fruit to use_.**

**Harp Islands Village: POV Dr. Deal**

**_I see stitch, and luckily he hasn't killed anyone yet_, Stitch get back into the ship. _He knows I mean business, but I know he doesn't care, when your abilities rely on new parts every week to stay together, and you've been in a ship for three your bound to get antsy._ "Doctor", Stitch replies, "why did you leave me on board"? "You know I need parts". "And you'll get them" I retort, "when I can find someone who died naturally, you may have been on board longer then me, but that doesn't give you the right to do act without orders". _I know its too late to stop his madness, luckily everyone is locked inside, wait the mayor,_ "Mayor get back in your house it's not safe".**

**Harp Islands Village: POV Mayor**

** "I'm not listening to you pirate scum, I know now your a pirate, you in league with these maniacs! I'm ordering you to leave now, Ms. Hamilton has already called the navy"...(the mayor stops mid sentence, he can't feel his arm anymore) "What is wrong with my body"? _I look to my right my arm is gone. My vision is fading_, I don't want to die.**

**Harp Islands Village: POV Dr. Deal**

**"No", I shout, _but it's too late, Stitch managed to tear off the mayors arm, and I needed to restrain him fast._ _I quickly positioned my fingers into a gun shape and used my fruit to renew my blood cells in my finger joint, forcing my finger to swell and then quickly I inserted my finger into the small hole in my mask and bit off the nail around my finger. I pulled it out and started to use my regeneration technique to rapidly grow my nail, and push it out of my finger using the pressure from my renewing blood vessels. During this time I notice stitch get ready to strike, luckily this battle was already over, with most of Stitch's body parts only partially usable, I was able to take them off by aiming at the stitching in which they were sown onto his body with, severing them with my nail gun. In a manner of seconds I had stitch restrained, I ran to the unconscious mayor, and started to patch him up, I knew I didn't have the resources to do anything with his decapitated arm, but at-least I could stop the bleeding and infection. _**

**Harp Islands Village: POV No Beard James**

**_I was pleasantly surprised to see the carnage limited to one arm, but intuition told me we needed to head out fast I decided the most reasonable choice would be to drop the kid and leave with our loot._ "Dr. Deal to hurry up and grab Stitches head we have to go", _and I started running to the ship, with something snagged on my leg, it was only by the time we were far away from the islands that I noticed that the lad attached to my leg. "_Looks like I have another mouth to feed, hopefully this one doesn't bite"_._**

**Aboard ?: POV Cob**

**_When I awoke I was tied to a post, my body ached, and my vision was blurry. I had been taken from my home, from my life, and now I was in the middle of an tremendous ocean with madmen, I wanted to cry, I wanted to run, but mostly I wanted revenge, and something about the way my body was feeling told me that I could obtain it._**

**Authors Note**

** Powers: **

** No Beard James: Massive strength and large pockets.**

** Dr. Deal: Has the ability to regrow cells at an extreme level, he can still die from organ loss, drowning, vaporization, etc.**

** Stitches: The Franken Fruit: He can change parts at will, but rots with time and usage of his techniques.**

** Cob: Just ate a devil fruit, but has yet to use its power.**

**I hope the first chapter wasn't too bad, and I would really appreciate criticism in order to polish up this chapter and the next ones if you want to follow along. If you like what you see give me ideas for characters to meet.**

**Next chapter will be focused on fleshing out each character some more, and hopefully a much more detailed and extravagant fight scene as well.**


	2. Tranquil Island

**I do not Own One Piece**

**Spoken Words: Hello**

**__Inner Thoughts: ouch__**

**__(Other characters Actions): (The lad had grabbed a knife)__**

**Places and POV: The Rust Bucket: POV No Beard James**

**Feel free to criticize, support, give ideas, and yell at any poor grammar in the comments.**

**The Rust Bucket: POV COB**

**_ I can't stand these pirates, they walk around like nothing happened, just like they never captured me. I wish I knew why my body feels so hot, all I want to do is get out of these ropes and punch these guys. I'll have to go after the bald one first, he seems to have some sort of draining chains. I can't believe after one hundred years that my village gets hit on by this lot, even looking at them they don't seem like much. Besides the humongous bald one there was this supposed doctor who was posing as a marine, he must have changed out of his uniform as I was unconscious. Honestly he looks like an over weight walrus with a lab coat with a bird mask mask. I bet doctoring must be all he's good for, and then there's that last one, or whats left of him. I think they said something about stitches, I don't know why they were bothering holding onto that decapitated head. The townspeople must of swarmed they guy, I'm glad that the village will be fine without me._ "Argh, I can't stand being tied up!"_ I quickly get yelled at for being noisy by the bald one. Ack, somethings rubbing against my back, wait, is that a nail. I quickly get to work to fray the ropes, but before I even start to cut into it bird man see me and pops the nail out._ "Nice try" _the bird man said. Man I wish I could rip that guy a new one, bet he thinks he's pretty clever. While he looks away I struggle some more on the ropes until I feel a popping, at fist I thought I had popped my arm, only to my surprise I had actually popped out some metal structure from my arm. I nearly yelped, until I remember what the bald one said on the island, that he had lost his chance at a devil fruit. Did my parents know what this could do, and if so why keep it? I quickly push my thoughts aside as I try to see how this new revelation can help me. As I study it, I see that its fairly smooth and circular, almost like a can protruding from my body, definitely not sharp enough to cut with sadly. Maybe I can use as support to wedge myself against the ropes, as I start to wedge myself I see bird man turn back around to look at me, I panic, I feel my body surge and I push my body forward. Surprisingly my body complied, as the metal piece in my arm pushed air back behind me breaking the mast in the process, problem was, I was still attached, falling forward about to be crushed. I turned as much as I could and luckily I was able to flip enough to turn the mast to my side. A voice come from behind me _"That was quite a display lad, that must have been some fruit you ate", I couldn't see who said it but I'm sure it was James the captain. He continued on, "its a good thing we reached our destination Tranquil Island"._ I'd been so focused on escaping I had forgotten how long we had been traveling. While I couldn't see anything the captain was happy to tell me that while I was stuck to my post I could watch the ship. I heard them go down the stairs to most likely get some supplies, and then leave the ship. I waited ten minutes before I tried my power again, this time I focused on my back and tried to summon the blast again, but stronger. It felt like air was sucking around me and being expelled, this time the mast broke and I was free. I quickly ran to the boarding planks, noticing for the first time how terrible the ships state seemed to be. As I looked at the island I was greeted with a beautiful hill of green grass and beautiful red roses. _**

**_Tranquil Island: POV COB_**

**_I had never before seen such a beautiful display, yet as I walked up the hill I began to realize that there was almost no sounds of life, no people, no birds, no bugs. It hit me when I reached the top, this wasn't an island of the living, this was an island for the dead. At the top of the hill for what looked like miles of land, there were thousands of graves, each one dedicated with a single red rose. A voice beside me said "_A Beautiful place isn't it_", I jumped, to my right was the bird man. I never really introduced myself to you did I lad, my name is Dr. Deal. I quickly shout that I don't give a dang, I knew this guy was going to take me back, but the Doctor said something that surprised me. There's no trees on this island, nor will anyone other than us stop here, this island is considered a cursed place. This is the home to the first outbreak of the Scarlet Rose. "_Outbreak?!"_ I said, "_is it safe to be here"_. I looked at the doctor for the first time directly face to face, and for a moment I thought I saw something spark in his eyes, it dashed quickly and he motioned for me to sit at a small old wooden bench out-looking the rows of graves. _**

**"Whats your name lad" _the Doctor asked, I don't really know why I sat down or responded, but I said "_Cornelius Hedge lots of people call me Cob though"_, the doctor shifted his head to the sky and chuckled, that's a nice name Cob. To answer your question yes, it very much is safe to be here, some people seem to fear this place, but it is not cursed nor is it still deadly. Few people have studied the Scarlet Rose outbreak as much as me, and even fewer know its life span. What is the Scarlet Rose I asked, why is it so feared? The doctor sighs and then speaks up, "_I forgot how sheltered you must have been in your village, the Scarlet Rose is a disease that is spread through the air, know one knows how it came about , but one day a special tour fairy from from the fish hook isles west of this island was returning from its round trip with a married couple, who were just finishing their eighth anniversary. When the boat came shore immediately the town realized something was wrong. The couple and the captain were both deadly sick, luckily the doctor at the time had figured the couple and captain must have been infectious and put them in quarantine, by the end of three days the the infected died of an extreme loss of blood cells, and their eyes had turned red and were the shape of rose petals. Then how did it spread I asked, you need some more patience Cob the doctor replied. It was their child, the couple had a young child, he used to be a normal brat, but when his parents passed on he began to keep to himself, constantly running away until eventually the town stopped searching. No one knew what he was doing at the time and over the years he came back to the village less and less, he became somewhat of a wild child, but rather than coming to town to steal food, he came to steal books and equipment all relating to medicine. That should have been a clue to the villagers, those fools kept ignoring it for five years. It wasn't until the boy was around thirteen that one of the younger villagers about the same age as the child followed when he came back to get the other villagers they discovered that the child had been building a lab in a far away cave at the edge of the island. Candles filled the entrance, vials all over the place, and assorted mice and rats were in boxes, some dead and others dying and all had bright red eyes. The villagers found the child in the middle of placing the corpse of what must have been a previously dead rat in with another. The child didn't protest much, he just kept saying he needed to finish his experiments, further in the cave they found remains of some of the vials taken from the examination of the couple under quarantine. The next few days was a spiral of disease, when the villagers grabbed the child they didn't realize that they forgot to protect themselves from the disease, slowly almost everyone died from the disease on the island, or ran away, and that's what happened_." I had a feeling there was more to the tale then what the doc was letting on, but I decided not to press. I was about ready to leave when the doctor started to ask me another question, where are you going? I'm going to look for a way off this island, don't try and stop me, you seem like an ok guy, but I don't trust you, you invaded my village after all. The doctor grabbed my arm and turned me around, he shouted at me "there is no other way off this island, besides when you got taken upon the ship you were made a member of the crew. If you can beat me, we'll drop you off at fishhook island". "_Really_", I said, "_that should be easy_". Even as a farmer I knew how to do some basic boxing, not only that but with my fruit powers I bet I could blast this guy around a bit. At-least that's what I thought, I was immediately slammed backwards into the nearest grave with a blow that should of broken my ribs had it not been for the metal I instinctively covered my chest with. It didn't take me long to see the doctors right hand was smoking, the flesh had peeled away and been replaced with more bone. The doctor noticed and gave me one last piece of advice, "i_f you think I'm slow and weak because of my weight, think again, besides your not the only one with a fruit. I'm able to manipulate my cell growth, stimulating the growth of whatever I please, it can be blood cells, my skeletons bone structure, or any other internal body function_". I should have known better, just because someone looks weak doesn't mean they are, and now I'm going to be in trouble. The doctor aimed for my face with another punch from his right hand, I used my propulsion abilities by forcing wind through my right hand to dodge, and then I aimed my left hand towards the doctor to push the him back. The doctor used the momentum of the blast to somersault backwards and immediately pricked his left finger. I don't understand why the he was hurting himself, but I didn't think about it long as I rushed in to give him another blast, that is until I heard him shout, nail gun. I immediately saw the pointing finger was no joke when nails started digging into my chest, I wasn't going to win If I didn't dodge. I focused on my feet and launched into the air, the doc shifted his aim upwards, and I immediately focused on my palms using the wind to deflect the nails. As I was about to land I once again concentrated on my feet and pushed towards the doctor, he must have known I was going to go in again, as he waited til the last moment to dodge, and I smacked right into the gravestones behind him. I hurt all over, but I got up anyways, I wasn't going to lose and my resolve was unwavering, that is until the doctor laughed, _kekeke I haven't had fun like this in awhile_. _I think its time I go all out_, the doc pulled a syringe from his pocket and stabbed himself. _This is a very special medicine it increases your bodies response ten fold by overtaking your senses with adrenaline, if you last five minutes, you'll beat me._ I ran, I knew if I could just keep away the doctor wouldn't be able to get me in time, but even with my propulsion's, I wasn't keeping ahead, the doc moved at an astonishing pace, pressing his feet off tombstones for momentum, and shooting his nail gun in between steps. I stumbled as I accidentally smacked into an obelisk, with one misstep the doc had caught up. I knew I had only one option left, and that was to stop the doc with the last of my strength, I brought my hands together and summoned all the wind I could, and then I punched forward into the docs face. As his mask slowly tore away around his eyes I saw something unexpected, his eyes were the shape of rose petals. For a second, it looked like the doc would fly all the way back to the ship, until his right hand popped off. While I couldn't properly see it something prevented the doctor from flying backwards. I was close to going unconscious, the doctored heaved as he got near me, _you'll make a fine addition to the crew swabbie,_ and then I blacked out. _**

**_The Rust Bucket: POV COB_**

**_I awoke fresher then ever, it was almost like being punched never happened, though my feeling were short lived with the bars. I guess attacking the ships doctor may have broken a couple rules. Odd thing was the door was open. It must have been fairly late, everything was dark I creeped to the top of the ship. A voice came from my right, its a wonderful night isn't it, I instinctively moved backwards. I breathed hard and said_ "it can't be, your dead"_, the voice replied, _"my names not dead, its stitch".**

**Authors Note: Hopefully for my first fight scene, there was enough movement and attacking to keep it action packed enough, if not let me know in the review section and comment.**


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